LE

That's good but my point still stands that most places will not accept an in-service degree. For one, unless they also have a-levels and GCSEs they would not get accepted for many graduate positions.

And again the Aldi/Lidl barometer is appropriate because they pay the same or even more than what a lot of in service degree holders would have been earning at the point they left - therefore its probably the only grad scheme they would consider.

If you notice my point I was specifically talking about graduate schemes. As I mentioned the Aldi/Lidl one is the only one I know of that pays a starting salary similar to what someone who got an in-service degree would have earned; hence why I used it as an example. But sure, lets go PWC instead. Know anyone with an in service degree who used it to get a graduate job with PWC?

And from what I recall of a friend who did that scheme, she was in charge of five stores, not the one.

But this is relative. I said an in service degree will not be recongised in the majority of graduate jobs outside - you gave a niche, ungeneralizable example, but claim it is the norm and then got upset when I questioned you. No snobbery, just a genuine question about the value of the in-service qualifications that has been done to death on these boards, and elsewhere.

LE

The timing is puzzling. None of them have much hope of retaining their seats in a GE, yet the two things that could result in an early GE are Brexit being halted or Corbyn trying and succeeding in another vote of no confidence.

In fact, if Corbyn has any political smarts, he'll wait another couple of weeks to see if anyone joins the Independent Group then slap in another vote of no confidence. That'll put them on the horns of a dilemma - do they vote against the government, bring it down and promptly lose their seats in a GE? You can bet your bottom dollar that both Labour and the Tories will be gunning for their respective defecting MP's in any GE.

If they do vote, I'll bet the independent Group splits right down the middle. The Labour members will vote against the government. Will the three Tories do so in the knowledge that they might let in a Labour government from which they're ideologically poles apart? I suspect they'll abstain - and then it'll be happy families in the Independent Group.

In any event, the only thing uniting them seems to be a hatred of Brexit. If we Brexit as expected next month, they they'll be unable to agree a common set of policies. That will leave the three Tories dangling in mid-air as the most obvious source of recruits for the Group are more disaffected Labour MP's - and the best way of attracting those is to hoof the Tory MP's into the outer darkness.

I could understand the group being formed after immediately after Brexit. There's sure to be economic turbulence for some months and they could have played the "we tried and failed to stop Brexit - now its time to form a new party for the good of the country" card. But 6 weeks before Brexit looks like monumentally stupid timing as the issue they're making their stand on bids fair to go ahead.

I wonder if this was/is another failed attempt to stop Brexit and more MP's were meant to join the band wagon. We'll know in a few days. If there are only one or two more defections, the Independent Group are going to look a right bunch of chimps.

LE

If you notice my point I was specifically talking about graduate schemes. As I mentioned the Aldi/Lidl one is the only one I know of that pays a starting salary similar to what someone who got an in-service degree would have earned; hence why I used it as an example.

And from what I recall of a friend who did that scheme, she was in charge of five stores, not the one.

But this is relative. I said an in service degree will not be recongised in the majority of graduate jobs outside - you gave a niche, ungeneralizable example, but claim it is the norm and then got upset when I questioned you.

The person earning £100k was an ex-RA LE Capt, btw. That was the generic example. Your original contention that an In-Service degree renders someone unemployable in the private sector is bollocks. As for thinking better of me, get over yourself. I neither want nor need your approbation.

LE

The person earning £100k was an ex-RA LE Capt, btw. That was the generic example. Your original contention that an In-Service renders someone unemployable in the private sector is bollocks. As for thinking better of me, get over yourself. I neither want nor need your approbation.

I never said service renders them unemployable, I said an in-service degree will not be accepted by the majority of private sector employers as adequate for a graduate position. You gave niche examples that also included their experience was the important factor. I then asked you if this generalised to other areas, and it doesn't- so you got upset because I showed you up to be merely a more eloquent version of Meerkatz. Absolutely pathetic.

Cannot defend your position beyond one example of someone who was also a retired commissioned officer so then you resort to ad-homs, rather than consider I may have a point.

Cannot admit you are wrong and now you start to lie. As I said, I thought better of you too.

ADC

What is all of this bollocks about degrees? Well done, AL, for getting a degree and a job out of it in the field you wanted, but there are plenty of other degree candidates that never get the chance to practice in their degree field, a degree isn't the be all and end all of working life. I know of one person who took their degree to Masters level, all spent in academia, got a job in the real world and was a basket case after 4 months due to having nil experience in the real world (apart from drinking and partying at Uni)and had to retreat back to the parental home to sit in a corner to carry on wobbling, goes to show that degrees aren't everything.

"It's not the bullet that's got my name on it that concerns me; it's all them other ones flyin' around marked 'To Whom It May Concern.'" -Unknown

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf - George Orwell